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Sunday, 20 January 2013

Today BBMP conducted a demolition drive
in EWS Quarters, Koramangala,
Bangalore. Residents fought valiantly against eviction and were lathi
charged by police and some were taken to Adugodi police station. The
demolition crew cut electricity lines and even tried to destroy the 5
bathrooms used by 1500 families! At that stage we militantly protested,
sitting in front of the bulldozers. The demolition of many other homes
was halted this way but the police repeatedly bullied the people saying
"You are small people, we are here to protect the demolition crew who
are clearing homes for the company". The bulldozers were gheraod but
then the demolition crew were sent on foot with poles and hammers to
clear the tin shed homes. Due to the small number of people who got to
know and were mobilized in the middle of the day when many are at work,
we could only prevent 1 demolition at a time and some demolitions
quietly happened simultaneously in other parts of the slum without us
even being aware. Several people are now without a roof over their head
in the biting cold, many families with multiple infants under the age of
two, sitting outside their former homes with a small set of possessions
accumulated over 10-30 years of living here.

Tomorrow we will be fighting demolition on the ground (Tin shed settlement opposite National Games Village main gate, Ejipura/Koramangala,
Bangalore) and also there will be a simultaneous protest in front of the BBMP office with people’s organisations across Karnataka from 10.30 am. on 19th of Jan 2013.EVERYBODY PLEASE PARTICIPATE.
Call me at 7760235234 for information, thanks
Kaveri

BACKGROUND
INFORMATION ON EWS QUARTERS:

In 1984
BBMP built 1512 houses in Viveknagar, Bangalore and distributed them to
Economically Weaker Section families in 1996. These G+2 EWS quarters were not
provided basic facilities like water or toilet. Due to rampant corruption in
building the quarters, the buildings started cracking after 5 years and
collapsed after 7 years of allotment. Three persons including a child died in
the building collapse and several were injured.

A
committee setup by BBMP suggested that 21 of the 42 structures to be demolished
and the rest repaired. But BBMP forced all people to vacate the buildings and
demolished all the structures with an intention to handover the land to private
companies. It is primarily because the people residing here were largely belonging
to SC, ST and minority communities, daily wage laborers, that BBMP took all such decisions. Meanwhile,
people (both allottees and tenants) were forced to live in huts with tin sheds
for many years.

In a site
where 3000 houses could be built, BBMP has signed a MoU with a private company
to build 1640 houses (G+9 multi storeyed) and intend to distribute only to the
original allottees. Already 22 acres of prime land has been given to the
notorious Garuda Mall as a result of huge corruption from top to bottom. The
company will be building the houses in 40 % land and build a commercial complex
in the other 60% land. BBMP Officials have managed to reach a
compromise with the EWS allottees and the company to completely evict the
thousand and odd families living their without any form of rehabilitation, in
spite of the BBMP promise of building in-situ houses for them.
This is clearly an act of land grab. This is
nothing but an action of plundering the land reserved for the housing of
Dalits
and Minorities. The residents do not have the money to pay the advance
of Rs. 30-40,000 required to live in even the smallest dwelling of a
slum being daily wage earners, and this is the move of a government more
interested in the well being of the already rich Garuda Mall owners
than the EWS quarters residents who work as garbage cleaners,
construction workers, domestic workers, and are paid next to nothing for
their strenuous daily wage labor.

The EWS
residents with strong support from various peoples’ organisations have
demonstrated stiff resistance for this combined land grab enacted by BBMP and
the private company.